After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

As evening fell, the city skyline was tinged with a dark orange hue by the sunset.

The aroma of food wafted from the kitchen of the rented apartment. Shen Yi placed a plate of freshly stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of pork rib soup on the table, took off her apron, and sat down opposite Lin Ye.

The two ate dinner quietly as usual, with only the occasional soft clinking of bowls and chopsticks in the room.

After eating for a while, Lin swallowed the rice in his mouth and looked up at Shen Yi.

"I have something to do and need to leave for a while," Lin said. "I've already asked the school for leave."

Shen Yi's hand, which was picking up food, froze in mid-air, and a hint of unprepared panic flashed in her clear eyes.

She put the chopsticks back on the rim of the bowl, making her voice sound as relaxed as usual.

"Will it take a long time?"

"It's not certain yet," Lin replied truthfully.

Since her mother passed away, she has devoted her whole heart to Lin Ye, and Lin Ye has hardly ever left her side for long.

Lin suddenly decided to leave, which made her feel uneasy: "Is it related to Tian Shu?"

"I guess so," Lin replied.

After dinner, Shen Yi cleared away the dishes and took them to the kitchen to wash.

The sound of running water was loud. When she dried her hands and came out of the kitchen, Lin was already standing in the entryway.

He didn't have any extra luggage to pack; he just put on his usual coat.

"I'm leaving." Lin Ye reached out and opened the door, turning back to say to Shen Yi.

"Have a safe journey," Shen Yi replied softly.

Lin walked outside, and the door closed in Shen Yi's sight, making the rented room quiet.

Shen Yi stood alone in the entryway, looking at the door. She didn't know why, but she never felt this way when Lin Ye went out or came home late. This time, however, a strange sense of unease spread from the bottom of her heart.

In the quiet space, an image suddenly flashed uncontrollably through Shen Yi's mind.

The Taoist nun in the blue robe stared at her with an eye that seemed to see through fate.

Those few words of criticism, which seemed to have taken root, echoed clearly in her ears at this moment.

At Ningchuan International Airport, passenger planes take off for night flights and disappear into the deep night.

The first-class seats were spacious and comfortable, and the cabin lights were dimmed, with only the low-frequency hum of the engine lingering in the air.

Lin Ye sat in his seat, looking through the porthole at the city below, which was gradually turning into scattered lights. This was one of the few times he had left Ningchuan.

Unlike Lin Ye's quiet demeanor, Zhao Qishan, sitting next to him, slumped into his leather seat after the plane took off smoothly, letting out a long sigh of relief as if an invisible mountain had been lifted from his shoulders.

Song Jing, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle, asked for a blanket, put on an eye mask, and began to close his eyes to rest, not wanting to say a word.

As the top combat force of Tian Shu, they could have easily reached Fusang by high-speed flight or continuous teleportation, at a speed far exceeding that of commercial airliners.

This is also the preferred method for most high-level players when crossing borders, but Zhao Qishan and Song Jing have no desire to use the magnetic field at all.

For the past two months, Zhao Qishan and Song Jing have been keeping a close eye on Lin Ye every day to prevent those Chen-level impulsive individuals around him from causing trouble.

This prolonged exploitation left them exhausted, and all they wanted was to quietly be ordinary passengers, letting commercial airliners slowly take them across.

Moreover, taking Lin Ye abroad at this time would definitely be a good thing for the Xia Shang government.

The destructive power within Lin Ye's body is truly astonishing. If a battle were to break out, the cities in the country would simply not be able to withstand the impact of that scale.

The Xia Shang government still doesn't know how to deal with that terrifying giant crater on the outskirts of Ningchuan City.

As long as Lin is not in the country, even if he causes a huge mess abroad, it's others who will suffer.

With that in mind, Zhao Qishan shifted to a more comfortable position, and two hours later, the passenger plane landed smoothly at Fusang's international airport.

The airport was still bright and noisy in the early morning, with signs and announcements in various languages ​​intertwined, giving it a sense of unfamiliarity in a foreign land.

The three of them followed the flow of people out of the terminal. The moment they stepped out of the door, Zhao Qishan and Song Jing simultaneously pulled out black sunglasses from their pockets and put them on their noses.

Lin watched this scene without saying anything.

Zhao Qishan raised his hand to push up the edge of his sunglasses and turned to look at Lin Ye.

"When you get to this place, you need to tone it down a bit."

Zhao Qishan's gaze swept across the bustling streets in the distance, shimmering with neon lights, and he slowly began to explain the complexity of the environment.

"The official player organization in Japan, Kannagi, keeps a close eye on high-level foreign players entering the country. If we make too much of a fuss, the subsequent negotiations will be very troublesome."

"More importantly," Zhao Qishan lowered his voice, revealing a hint of apprehension, "this is the headquarters of the Tianjie Canglu branch."

As a massive illegal player organization spanning various continents, Tianjie is severely targeted in most countries and can only hide in dark corners like a rat.

However, in Japan, this organization possesses an unimaginable level of infiltration, and is even deeply intertwined with local tycoons and underground forces.

"You fought with Chu Changqing a while ago, so you should have seen from him that there is a group of people at the top of the pyramid among the players. Their abilities are naturally superior to those of ordinary players, which is the so-called 'Five Powers and Seven Laws'."

Lin listened quietly, the image of that golden sky sealed off by chains flashing through his mind.

"But in this dog-eat-dog world, powerful beings are not limited to the Five Powers and Seven Laws." Zhao Qishan's tone became somewhat solemn. "There are other players who are just as dangerous; they are known as the 'Three Thrones and Eight Calamities.'"

Zhao Qishan turned his gaze to Lin Ye, his eyes revealing a hint of meaning: "Two months ago, two people from the Tianjie Canglu branch came to cause you trouble, but they were intercepted by Qingxin on the way. One of them was named Cui Haozhen, and the other was named Kamiya Jie."

"That Kamiya Suke is one of the Eight Calamities."

Lin seemed to be deep in thought. He recalled the scene of Gu Qingxin walking unsteadily back to the apartment building that noon, and the deep, bone-revealing tear on her shoulder.

"Qingxin's ability is not the Five Powers and Seven Laws, nor is it that damned Throne Calamity, but she has one of the twelve artifacts, 'Disloyalty,' and if she really pulls that thing out, her combat power is quite terrifying."

"In that conflict, she chopped off Kamiya's arm by claiming 'disloyalty.' Kamiya, with his extremely eccentric personality, must be absolutely seething with hatred for Qingxin, and even for our entire Tian Shu, after suffering such a great loss."

Zhao Qishan reached out and flagged down a taxi that was heading his way, then opened the car door and turned around.

"We're operating on someone else's turf this time, and Tianjie has connections all over the place, so we need to keep a low profile as much as possible. Once our whereabouts are exposed, trouble will keep coming our way."

While he was giving them this earnest advice, Zhao Qishan secretly thought to himself, "If you really want to fight them, we won't stop you."